l that 'Abdu'l-Baha could do, during a
period of four distressful years, His incessant exhortations, His earnest
pleadings, the favors and kindnesses He showered upon him, the admonitions
and warnings He uttered, even His voluntary withdrawal in the hope of
averting the threatening storm, proved to be of no avail. Gradually and
with unyielding persistence, through lies, half-truths, calumnies and
gross exaggerations, this "Prime Mover of sedition" succeeded in ranging
on his side almost the entire family of Baha'u'llah, as well as a
considerable number of those who had formed his immediate entourage.
Baha'u'llah's two surviving wives, His two sons, the vacillating Mirza
Diya'u'llah and the treacherous Mirza Badi'u'llah, with their sister and
half-sister and their husbands, one of them the infamous Siyyid 'Ali, a
kinsman of the Bab, the other the crafty Mirza Majdi'd-Din, together with
his sister and half-brothers--the children of the noble, the faithful and
now deceased Aqay-i-Kalim--all united in a determined effort to subvert the
foundations of the Covenant which the newly proclaimed Will had laid. Even
Mirza Aqa Jan, who for forty years had labored as Baha'u'llah's
amanuensis, as well as Muhammad-Javad-i-Qasvini, who ever since the days
of Adrianople, had been engaged in transcribing the innumerable Tablets
revealed by the Supreme Pen, together with his entire family, threw in
their lot with the Covenant-breakers, and allowed themselves to be
ensnared by their machinations.

Forsaken, betrayed, assaulted by almost the entire body of His relatives,
now congregated in the Mansion and the neighboring houses clustering
around the most Holy Tomb, 'Abdu'l-Baha, already bereft of both His mother
and His sons, and without any support at all save that of an unmarried
sister, His four unmarried daughters, His wife and His uncle (a
half-brother of Baha'u'llah), was left alone to bear, in the face of a
multitude of enemies arrayed against Him from within and from without, the
full brunt of the terrific responsibilities which His exalted office had
laid upon Him.

Closely-knit by one common wish and purpose; indefatigable in their
efforts; assured of the backing of the powerful and perfidious
Jamal-i-Burujirdi and his henchmen, Haji Husayn-i-Ka_sh_i,
_Kh_alil-i-_Kh_u'i and Jalil-i-Tabrizi who had espoused their cause;
linked by a vast system of correspondence with every center and individual
they could reach; seconded in their l